A blog as expression of a perspective and take on international issues, most specially human rights, conflict situation and other topics worthy of interest and action.
Onada expansiva aims to be a catalyst for internationalist discussion on current issues with our own research and contributions from any other source.
Onada expansiva will be publishing in Catalan, English, Spanish and French.You can also follow us at @OnadaExpansiva

Killing on the name of...The so-called war on drugs being waged by Mexican military and police forces has translated into thousands of civilian deaths. US authorities have yet to publicly reprimand or express concern about the widespread human rights violations happening right now south of their border. Source Voice of Mexico

Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexico’s “War on Drugs”

It has been nearly five years since President Felipe Calderón declared “war” organized crime in Mexico. In the time since, the country has experienced a staggering rise in violence. After declining steadily for nearly two decades, the overall homicide rate grew by over 260% percent from 2007 to 2010.

Friday, October 28, 2011

A good piece by Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post, a timely reflection on the current debate on tax rebates and spending cuts. Added cartoon, hyperlinks and some context material regarding budgetary issues and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The hard-right conservatives who dominate the Republican Party
claim to despise the redistribution of wealth, but secretly they love it
— as long as the process involves depriving the poor and middle class
to benefit the rich, not the other way around.

The film deconstructs the so called war on terrorrethoric, showing how it has been used by governments and other actors as an excuse to curtail liberties and freedoms while using fear as a control tool.

Mr. Davies' case offers a glimpse about a criminal justice system which disproportionately prosecutes, jails and punishes minorities and people living in poverty. We have added hyperlinks and background material, including what you (yes, you) can do to help Mr. Davies

Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a Georgia police officer in 1991.
Nearly two decades later,Davis remains on death row — even though the
case against him has fallen apart.

The
case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which
contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony.

The following are the cables identified in an August 29, 2011 search of the wikileaks cables,
using the search terms data exclusivity and pharmaceutical. This
search identified 240 cables. Some 40 countries are mentioned in the
cables. More than half of the cables involve 5 countries: Turkey (76),
Taiwan (21), El Salvador (11), Honduras (11) and Tunisia (10).

Saturday, August 27, 2011

A good documentary (in high definition) by Australian filmmaker John Pilger on Americas recent history. Focuses on developments in Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile.

Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who purportedly took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries . Establishes the role and responsibility of the US-based School of the Americas in training and providing guidance for military forces in such countries as El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile and Argentina.

Education reform ( notably through school vouchers and charter schools) in the US is not only the ultimate philantrophist playing field with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Warren Buffet and Facebook´s founder pouring considerable ammounts of money into alterantives to the traditional public education system but also part of a wider narrative around the role of governments and unions in times of deficits. Worthy noting the presence of such actors as Private Security companies (Caveon) and PR executives (Anita Dunn White House Communication Director April-November 2009) close to the Obama administration in the effort to counter the backlash from cheating scandals in several US education districts. Added cartoon, hyperlinks and context material.

Reliance on test data, key element of the No Child Left Behind initiative, to asses students and teachers performance has contributed to the reported increased of cheating cases in several US school districts. Source crooks and liars

Two parallels
are often evoked apropos the recent violent outbursts in France : the New
Orleans looting after Katrina hurricane and May 68. In spite of significant
differences, lessons can be drawn from both parallels. With regard to New
Orleans, the Paris fires had a sobering effect on those European intellectuals
who used New Orleans to emphasize the advantage of the European welfare state
model over the US wild capitalism - now we know it can happen here also.

An important step forward in the fight against impunity in Colombia, resulting from the first interventionof
an international tribunal on the assassination of public figures,
activists and supporters of the Colombian left in dirty war episodes,
especially the systematic persecution of Patriotic Union.We have translated and added hyperlinks to the statement and some more background information on the subject at the end.

Manuel Cepeda Vargas, Senator of the Patriotic Union (UP), was murdered in Bogota, Colombia on August 9, 1994 Picture from Semana

Colombian State acknowledges responsibility for execution of Manuel Cepeda

(...)

This act of acknowledgment of responsibility was carried out in compliance with theruling issued on May 26, 2010 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), holding Colombian State authorities responsible for the extrajudicial execution of Senator Manuel Cepeda.